Applications exist, particularly in the field of automotive telematics, to inform a user of a mobile communication system of various services offered within a particular range of the user. That is, for example, say a user is driving through a town and is interested in a particular type of restaurant. The user may initiate a query through a cellular telephone provider or via an on-board navigation or driver assist service for the service to locate restaurants of the desired type relative to the location of the user. The system may respond by voice, text or email message, graphic message, and the like identifying the availability of the service the user desires in the area, such as the locations of restaurants of the desired type.
Additional telematics and telematics-like applications exist to notify a vehicle user of the condition of the vehicle. For example, the vehicle may need periodic maintenance based upon mileage. The vehicle management and control system may signal that it is time for the maintenance, and a message may be generated and communicated to the user. For example, the message may be an indicator within the vehicle. However, with the integration of communication technologies within the vehicle it is possible that the vehicle can provide an email notification, a page or similar indication to the user that service is required. Via integration with a navigation system, the user may be further informed of the locations of various service facilities capable of providing the required service.
Often these notifications are provided in conjunction with a preset or user defined threshold. For example, the vehicle may be configured to notify the user whenever there is less than two gallons of gasoline left within the vehicle. The user could also set a threshold to request to be notified when they are within a certain distance of a destination, for example if they are riding on a train and do not want to miss their stop. In certain situations, such as the case with being notified as to the amount of gas remaining in the tank, these notifications may come too late. For example, if the user is notified of having two gallons of gasoline remaining, but the nearest service station is farther away than two gallons will allow the user to travel, then the information has arrived too late to be useful.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method to coordinate service notifications based on locations to enhance the usefulness of the notification.